US Treasury Bill Auction Sees Mixed Rates This Week

In Tuesday's auction, the interest rates placed on short term Treasury bills were mixed. The rates on the three month bills were declining whereas the rates on the six month bills rose higher than they ever have in the past eight years.

Auctioned at a discounted rate of 0.535 percent, the three month bills were auctioned by the Treasury Department for $34 billion. This was lower than last week's discount of 0.540 percent. The six month bills were auctioned at the discounted rate of 0.670 percent which was a high rise from last week's 0.645 percent, resulting in $28 billion.

Two weeks ago on 6 Feb., the rates of the three month bills hit an all time low at an average of 0.530 percent. This was the second lowest point for the three month rates. On the other hand, the six month bills had the highest rate ever since the average of 0.840 percent in 2008 on 17 Nov. as reported by ABC News.

According to NZ Herald, the discounted rates show that the bills sell for lower than the face value. For instance, the three month price for a $10,000 was only $9,986.48 whereas the six month price for it was $9,966.13. When calculating an annualized rate, this would yield 0.682 percent for the six month bills and 0.543 percent for the three month bills.

The weekly auction saw a day's extension and instead of being held on Monday, as it normally is, it was held on Tuesday. The cause behind the delay was the President's Day holiday. On a different note, the Federal Reserve stated the yield for one year Treasury bills which is a popular index for making alterations in rate mortgages.

The statement was made on Tuesday and detailed the average to 0.82 percent on Monday. This is only a smidgen down from being 0.84 percent last week on Feb. 14.